Journal
JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT MATERIAL SYSTEMS AND STRUCTURES
Volume 31, Issue 1, Pages 152-166Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1177/1045389X19888796
Keywords
Dielectric elastomer; self-priming circuit; piezoelectric; energy harvesting
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Funding
- Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India
- Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
- NUS MOE strategic grant for Composites Engineering and Research
- A*STAR-DST grant [R-265-000-524-305 (SERC 142 520 3140)]
- NUS Research Scholarship
- NUS MOE [R-265-000-523-646]
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The dielectric elastomer generator is a stretchable generator that converts low-frequency motions into electrical output, with excellent impedance matching capabilities. However, the dielectric elastomer requires an external high-voltage priming source to initialize its operation. We previously proposed a piezoelectric generator as the priming source, and demonstrated a net amplification of specific output energy of 1.8 times by the dielectric elastomer generator, as compared with that of the piezoelectric working in isolation. We termed our prototype the dielectric-elastomer-amplified piezoelectric (DEAmP). In this version, we introduce a self-priming circuit that will progressively charge up the dielectric elastomer generator to a much higher potential, thereby allowing the system to approach its optimized operating voltage. We term this the DEAmPx generator, with the letter x denoting progressive voltage/charge amplification by the self-priming circuit. The DEAmPx attained an output voltage of about 2000 V in 18 cycles and generates a dielectric elastomer generator-specific energy output of 3.1 mJ/g per cycle-19 times higher than that of the piezoelectric generator working in isolation. The system-specific energy output of DEAmPx is 0.49 mJ/g, with just a single layer of elastomer film. With this significantly larger output, we demonstrate the capability of a single-layer DEAmPx to power dielectric elastomer actuators.
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